First Baptist Family of Asheboro, NC

  Colossians 1:15-17 is part of an old song, a hymn.   I’m reminded of a visit with my parents when my nieces discovered an old record player.   They didn’t know what it was!   I had the privilege of showing them how to use it and it was interesting to listen to it.   There’s something nostalgic about the crackling sound it makes.   This song, Colossians 1:15-17, is over 2,000 years old.   As we take communion together today this is a sacred moment for us.   We do this with our brothers and sisters around the world.   This song was sung by the earliest believers.   It’s a song about who Jesus is.   It’s an early hymn. Jesus is our Creator. In creation God is visible.                            15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, H...

  Think about a weird dream you’ve had.   Sometimes we try to make sense of them and wonder what they mean.   Today we’re looking at a couple dreams with Joseph and remember the dream Joseph had as a teen is still in the background.   We all have wild dreams sometimes like we’re driving a school bus on the beach and Beethoven in playing music on the piano and that’s all I remember.   It’s hard to understand our dreams.   Sometimes we ask if God is trying to tell us something.   For the Egyptians, dreams meant something.   They had a group of educated people who would interpret the meaning of dreams. Our world faces challenges. Pharaoh’s dream was a big thing he was concerned about.   There were healthy cows that were all eaten by ugly skinny cows.                      8 So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all ...

  Nothing says fall like college football!   The leaves are now turning and there’s pumpkin spice everything.   A reminder it’s fall is the comic strip where Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown.   We wonder if maybe this year he’ll finally kick the football.   Charlie Brown always ends up at the bottom on the ground.   Joseph is at the bottom.   The rug is pulled out from under him again.   Even at the bottom there are some good things.   We get our hopes up and the football is pulled right out from under us.   There is love at the bottom. God is with the brokenhearted.   To recap, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and he becomes Potiphar’s slave.   He’s accused by Potiphar’s wife and is thrown in prison.   Life keeps getting worse.   There’s a surprise here in verse 21:             21But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast...

We’ve been working through Genesis since January and then we got this thing called COVID.   We do a lot of planning.   Some things we even plan out a year out.   In this season it’s hard to plan even a few weeks out.   You’ll receive some updates later on this week about our plans for the fall.   In March everything was crazy and we were asking, “God, what do we need to do?”   God pressed upon my heart that His Word is sufficient in these times.   I just need to stay with scripture.   The Bible addresses so many things in our lives.   God speaks into our lives through the Bible.   Here’s what we want to happen in these times: we want you to keep growing and to get spiritually stronger.   Satan’s tactic is confusion.   God’s Word unites us.   Jesus’ prayer for the church was to make us one.   I want you to not just get through all of this but to get stronger.   Today we wrestle with deception.   The serpe...

I want to praise God and to share a time He has worked in my life. The experience shows how God used my emotional pain for my growth and answered my prayers only when I was ready and in a way that was best for me. My first wife and I came to Asheboro so I could work with Thad Moser and Wes Moser in their law firm, starting February 1, 1976. The office was in the Trollinger Building on Worth Street in Asheboro . My father died May 27, 1976. The funeral was at First United Methodist Church in Asheboro . He was buried in Asheboro . I helped mother as much as possible. I handled the estate. I missed Daddy’s advice and common sense. I did not deal fully with his death for years, not being able to cry or talk fully about it when I needed so much to do so. The senior partner in our firm, Thad Moser, died February 14, 1977. He was at his desk in the office when he slumped over. There was some confusion as to what to do. He was rushed to the hospital and cared for ...